It has long been recognized that training and exercise activities which are specific to a sport that one wishes to excel in are beneficial and that such exercises can develop improved strength and agility in the actual groups of muscles used when participating in the particular sport. When one exercises for a specific sport, one not only gains strength and endurance, but one also increases his or her skills in performing that sport. Exercises embodying resistance to muscle movement increase the strength of the muscle groups being exercised. Moreover, it has been found that exercising muscles at the specific angle at which they are utilized in a particular sport significantly improves one's skill in that sport. Therefore, in order to increase their skill, strength and endurance in a particular sport, athletes will frequently engage in exercises that mobilize specific muscle groups.
The forward stride is a basic or fundamental maneuver in hockey which involves particular skate and body positions and movement of a skater's legs. While performing the forward stride, a skater starts with his feet in a "V" or "Arrow Tip" position and, after each stride, returns his feet to this position. At the same time, the skater bends his knees over the front of his skates, and maintains his back straight and shoulders square.
The best way to master the forward stride and to train and condition one's muscles to efficiently perform this basic maneuver is to practice this maneuver on ice. This requires a considerable amount of practice time on ice or "ice time" which may not be available, particularly in locations where there are limited ice facilities that are heavily scheduled.
Several ice skating exercising devices have been proposed which allow skaters to exercise off ice, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,609 to Bull, U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,460 to Miller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,373 to Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,941 to Elo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,372 to McCormack, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,214 to Schutzer and U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,595 to Hague. Other related exercise devices can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,598 to Little, U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,239 to Kallman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,530 to Romer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,531 to Jen-Huey, U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,355 to Reopelle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,704 to Luczynski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,464 to Mousel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,693 to Poppenberger, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,315 to Marcyan.
The present invention is directed to a device for exercising, strengthening and conditioning the muscles of ice skaters and for training hockey players in proper form and stride techniques.